The Jensen and Hay Houses are a pair of two semi-detached houses close to Bondi Junction. The renovations for both were designed by CEA. In the Jensen House, the larger of the two, we were able to maximize the living space by taking the wall to the southern boundary. A raw concrete wall and a frosted glass roof provide privacy from the neighbours to the south and a small pond completes the composition.

Client: Kane and Candice Jensen Location: Sydney, Australia Main Contractor: Arch Building and Construction Structural Engineer: N. Koloff Pty Ltd  Geotechnical Engineer: JK Geotechnics Size: 148m2 Status: Built, 2018 Photos: Richard Glover

everyday life occurs on a platform overlooking the sea Designed with the peculiarities of the site and on a sliver of land, the carved white exterior of this award-winning house is a landmark on the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk in Sydney. The ground floor is a transparent platform, with large sliding and pivoting glass doors. The basement level is a watery grotto, sandstone carved away to create space, with water pools, shafts of light and strong colours. The bedroom level, a protective cocoon, is a long linear box with light scoops to frame and control views, privacy and sunlight. At roof level sits a belvedere accessible via a narrow curved stair, a small deck, with built in timber seating and a fireplace, that provides spectacular ocean views. Green features include photovoltaic panels, orientation, rain water and recycled materials. The house allows living and working options on different levels, maximising the small narrow site whilst injecting some fun and fantasy.

Client: Chris Elliott Location: Sydney, Australia Landscape Architects: Terragram Pty Ltd Main Contractor: Hodge Build Pty Ltd Structural Engineer: O'Hearn Consulting Hydraulic  Engineers: Buckton Lysenko Pty Ltd Size: 250 m2 Status: Built, 2012 Photos: Richard Glover

a small intervention vastly improves lifestyle An old terrace in inner city Sydney, its rear dilapidated, bordering on potential collapse. An innovative solution opens up the house to the garden and lets in more light. The new bathroom is broken up into separate components to avoid obstructing the flow of the house. A shower area is an internal courtyard with translucent glass walls and doors with a retractable glass roof allowing light to flood in. The WC and laundry are in a small space opposite that aligns with the kitchen elements and staircase. The sleek kitchen runs along one wall and high windows allow light and fresh air into the space. Under floor heating warms the concrete floors. A timber deck with built-in BBQ, seating and storage creates a usable open space, improving the connection between the interior and exterior. A timber-slatted fence with selective parts missing maximises the view while solid screening sections create privacy. A small intervention vastly improves lifestyle with the entire site at ground level becoming a living space. 

Client: Michael Hyland Location: Sydney, Australia Contractor: Nessbit Constructions Structural Engineer: Meinhardt Size: 26sqm extension Status: Built, 2011 Photos: Richard Glover

ramshackle rear transformed  A Victorian terrace house with ramshackle rear additions is transformed into a contemporary residence with this design concept. The design sees rear additions removed to make way for an internal courtyard and a new rear pavilion, housing a sitting room and garage with a bedroom above. The kitchen, courtyard, sitting room and garage form a sequence of linked, completely openable spaces with a continuous stone floor, which serves to increase the apparent size of the site. The garage can be converted from a purely utilitarian space to valuable additional living space, an important objective in a time of increasing urban density. Timber slats around the new bedroom balcony above address privacy issues from adjacent gardens.

Client: Undisclosed Location: Sydney, Australia Structural Engineers: Lamaro Associates Status: Unbuilt, 2007

A new structure emerges from the old A strong linear element (red) houses services and defines the eastern edge of the living/garden space. A curved form (orange) projects from the linear element allowing space for a bathroom. The boundary between the living and garden space is dissolved with glass. A raw concrete floor overhangs the pool and rises up to form kitchen benches. A small courtyard, a ghost of the earlier courtyard it replaces, separates the new parts of the house from the old and functions as an outdoor extension of the kitchen. Above, uncoated steel forms oversail the living/garden space with minimal support from three steel posts. A skewed box (blue) projects from the bedroom suite allowing for a generous showering place with a distant rooftop view. A glass bridge connects the bedroom suite to an attic. The composition of contemporary forms maximises the space, both physically and visually.

Client: Undisclosed Location: Sydney, Australia Partners: Terragram Pty Ltd, Meinhardt Pty Ltd Size: 310m2 Status: Built, 2005 Photos: Richard Glover

red box, glass box This fine old house in Sydney's eastern suburbs had poorly designed additions at the rear, effectively separating the house from the existing garden and swimming pool. CEA's concept added a sequence of rooms, cascading down to the level of the garden, mediating between the original house and the leafy garden and pool. Formally it consisted of a two storey red box penetrated by a glass box containing a new kitchen/dining room that hovers slightly above the garden level. The living room, a large space with a high ceiling suitable for display of contemporary artworks, opens to the pool and garden via a large glass door that can be raised, disappearing into the thickness of the wall above.

Client: Undisclosed Location: Sydney, Australia Status: Concept, 2003

an energy efficient free-form glass structure A competition entry explores the possibilities of the glasshouse of the 21^st century. The latest techniques in glass technology, computer modelling and CNC generate a freely formed glass roof as dramatic and exciting as the great glasshouses of the 19^th century. It questions the perceived surface nature, form and energy performance of a glasshouse. The project proposed a spatial skin composed of a double layer of double-curved interlocking cast glass tiles separated by curved steel trusses, supported by steel posts on a four metre grid. A separate 'box' section houses the more private functions like bathrooms and bedrooms. Sustainable features include walls and roofs of glass or silica; an outer layer of photo-electrochemical or PEC glass that produces electricity; an inner layer of electrochromic or 'smart-glass' that can change from translucent to opaque in response to climactic conditions; a double skin that generates insulation; natural cross-ventilation via movable glass walls and openable windows; a stack effect that draws cooler air from outside in; and roof water collected in an underwater tank. An architectural experiment. A marvellous light-filled space.

Client: Undisclosed Location: Japan Status: Competition, 2001

bold scoops bring light This project for a young family involved adding a living room, kitchen, dining room, study and laundry to the rear of a federation house in Sydney's northern suburbs. In a future second stage a new attic bedroom and en-suite could be constructed within the existing roof, opening onto a large timber deck above the living room. The design provides what was lacking in the existing residence: an abundance of sunshine, light and a strong visual connection to the magnificent trees and garden on the site. The new living areas are composed essentially of two volumes: a steel and glass box housing the living room and a solid masonry box containing the kitchen and dining room. A number of openings are punched through and a "light-scoop" projects out from it. A pyramidal glass skylight pierces the roof of the glass box. These 'light-scoops' continue CEA's on-going exploration of ways of bringing light into the solid mass of a building.

Client: Undisclosed Location: Sydney, Australia Status: Built, 2000 Photos: Walter Glover

A gallery to live in The clients wanted a gallery that they could live in. The gallery is on two levels arranged around an internal courtyard and was designed to accommodate their extensive collection of contemporary Australian art. The gallery section is composed of a number of intersecting volumes held together by a double-height central spine. Externally, each of the volumes is a different colour, while the spine is red. Internally the colour scheme is muted allowing the artworks to be displayed to best effect. At the north end of the spine is a glazed opening that challenges the perceived notion of window.

Client: Jack and Isabella Klompé Location: Sydney, Australia Status: Built, 1999 Photos: Walter Glover